As we prepare to enter Level 2 (Light Suppression) and to regain the ability to socialise more freely, it is important to pause and recognise the tremendous efforts of those who served on the front line to make this milestone possible.

As Premier, I want to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge the men and women within the public service, who have toiled relentlessly to carry out the Government's policy decisions and to faithfully serve the people of the Cayman Islands. It is due in large part, to their courage and professionalism that it has been possible to maintain steady progress in the fight against COVID-19.

Just over three months ago, as the pandemic swept towards our shores we called upon the men and women within our public service to see these Islands through this crisis, which is of unrivalled magnitude certainly in the history of these islands (for the past 100 years). They mobilized swiftly to activate our emergency operations and implement Government's policies to slow the spread of the deadly pandemic. Even when very little was known about the virus and how it spread, Customs and Border Control Officers welcomed thousands of returning residents and bid farewell to guests.

As one group stepped up and did their jobs, other teams mobilised to address the next string of challenges as large numbers of students and residents began flocking home to take refuge and anxieties rose within the community that this might hasten the spread of the virus locally. Teams gathered and within 24 hours, went through iterations of innovative solutions. The result allowed us to temporarily transform hotels into isolation facilities, thereby relieving the pressures on families who were receiving loved ones from abroad, and allowing public health to focus their monitoring and testing capabilities to highly centralised locations.

Where the virus had breached our borders and was silently threatening to replicate itself in every district across our community, diverse public health professionals joined forces with the HSA, and began the laborious process of contact tracing which has to date resulted in the daily monitoring of almost 200 COVID positive persons, contact tracing for hundreds more who were potentially exposed, and raised the alert for those persons who were either unable or unwilling to maintain the quarantine.

Elsewhere, teams who had never previously never worked together, volunteered in "Operation Bring 'Em Home", and met our citizens at the airports and cared for at least two weeks at a time at the isolation facilities.

These volunteers worked in shifts, sometimes through the night, to feed, clean, and support the welfare of more than 600 residents who passed through these facilities in first three months. The needs of each occupant were known and addressed, ably led by professionals from the Department of Children and Family Services who are well versed in the procedures of shelter management.

We give thanks to almighty God for sparing us the full brunt of the virus, as many COVID positive cases were asymptomatic. However, we must not forget that there were those among us whose symptoms required medical interventions, either in the form of outpatient treatment in the newly formed flu clinic or by full blown admission to the dedicated respiratory unit. The HSA quickly transformed their normal operations to combat COVID-19, including the addition of a dedicated flu hotline to identify symptoms which warranted closer scrutiny.

With the assistance of project management and supply chain experts, satellite medical facilities were established, thereby expanding our capabilities if the volume of persons becoming ill should require Cayman to increase its medical footprint. These wins were made, by working closely with civil society from our church community and voluntary organisations.

When images from abroad flooded our shores of medical professionals combatting COVID without even the basic protective gear necessary to keep them safe, the Cabinet took comfort in the daily reports received throughout the crisis of how locally, PPE inventories were being managed and were being regularly augmented even at the height of the crisis.

When global supplies were at critically low levels and countries were confiscating medical equipment transiting their ports, local teams worked throughout the days and nights to secure adequate supplies not only to protect our doctors and nurses on the front line, but equally to distribute more than 50 thousand disposable and reusable masks across all three Islands so that every resident had some basic equipment needed to protect themselves and each other, as they experienced larger groups in public places.

Every medical and scientific expert has said the key to combating COVID, particularly when it presents as an invisible, asymptomatic intruder, is Testing, Testing, Testing. HSA's Public Health teams joined more recently by medical professionals from of our private sector, have undertaken more than 20 thousand COVID screenings, almost one-third of our population. The Cayman Islands now ranks third for testing per capita and is currently expanding capabilities to also conduct antibody testing.

Our police officers adopted extended shifts to enforce curfews by night, maintain the peace by day to instill confidence that essential activities like grocery shopping could be safely and pragmatically managed. Police officers joined side by side by CBC Officers and volunteer special constables, interacted with hundreds and sometimes thousands of persons each day.

Some of these interactions came at great personal risk, when for example they were called upon to assist Public Health teams with breaches in COVID quarantines. They did not have the luxury of an established schedule for responding to COVID emergencies, but rather made themselves available as required to keep the public safe.

Whilst contending with unprecedented demands for their services, some the men and women on the front line have also had to make a difficult call to isolate away from their families. By reducing the risk of accidental transmission to their own households, they maintained a singular focus to holding the frontline and keeping Cayman safe.

Our communications teams, worked tirelessly to inform the public of the latest medical and policy advice, to reach the public in their preferred communication channel from daily press briefings to continuous social media feeds, and to speak to each segment of our population in their own voice enlisting the cooperation of all from young children to our elderly. They also battled and quickly addressed rumours which disseminated false and harmful news, and instead offered the public reliable sources of medical and scientific advice.

The National Emergency Operations Centre, which has been operational for over 100 days, will cease daily activities today and shift monitoring and maintaining readiness for rapid response as required. Many on frontline have gone without leave during the height of this crisis, responding to calls all hours of the day and night. The public service has itself not been immune to virus, with some on the team contracting the virus and facing the uphill process of quarantine and recovery. Yet, as soon as circumstances allowed, they resumed their posts driven by a shared purpose to "Make Lives Better".

Although COVID-19 has dominated our discussions and decisions for over 100 days, it is not the only crisis our Country has faced in 2020. Since January of this year, the public service has responded to a major earthquake and tsunami warning, landfill fire, and, of course, COVID-19. 1 June also saw the start of the Atlantic hurricane season and we know not, what that will bring.

While we have so far been able to navigate these calamities by instituting sound policies, making swift decisions and enacting laws and regulations -- all of those measures would have been for nothing had it not been for the consistent and unwavering service provided by our frontline workers, who implemented the government's policies, decisions and regulations, and saved lives by doing so. These are the capable men and women that we have relied on to ensure a successful response to COVID thus far, and the people we will continue to rely on for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the hurricane season.

Having provided a glimpse of the heroic efforts of our COVID-19 Responders, the Government would like to recognise the remarkable effort by making a one-time honorarium payment for those who bore the brunt of the COVID-response. Those public servants who helped to combat COVID-19 by delivering essential services during the height of the crisis, will receive a one-off payment of $1,000.

An additional payment of $500 will be made to those public servants whose work, in combating the spread of the virus, required them to work in the most hazardous conditions including frequent contacts with high volumes of persons or close contact with persons known or suspected to be COVID-positive.

My Cabinet was happy to approve the one-off payment of an honorarium for COVID Responders within the public service. We only wish it could have been more. This stipend will be paid by participating agencies and within the civil service, will be borne from pre-existing HR budgets and savings realised in personnel costs across the Civil Service. There will be no increase in overall civil service budget. The Deputy Governor and Chief Officers will manage the programme and I wish to again extend my sincere appreciation for the tireless efforts of the teams who have responded.

We have seen countries much larger, expertise, than ours, struggle to mobilise an effective response. I would remind our emergency responders, Cayman is not yet out of the woods, and we continue to rely upon our civil service to keep Cayman safe.

Again, I would like to thank those on the frontline of our COVID-19 response for all of their remarkable and tireless efforts. You are indeed heroes. As we enter Level Two (Light Suppression), we are grateful for the contributions of so many who have made this progress possible. Thank you!